1,000 call records from four numbers of Hasina deleted on 5 Aug evening: ICT investigator
Efforts are underway to retrieve the erased data, investigator says
Nearly 1,000 call records linked to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were deleted on the evening of 5 August last year, the day she was ousted in a mass uprising.
"About 1,000 call logs, including four numbers used by Sheikh Hasina, were deleted from servers on the evening of 5 August," Tanvir Hasan Joha, special investigator with the International Crimes Tribunal said.
Efforts are underway to retrieve the erased data, Joha told reporters yesterday (29 September).
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He said the records were erased from the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) servers under the direction of then NTMC director General Ziaul Ahsan.
He added that the deletions took place as Hasina fled to New Delhi on 5 August after issuing numerous directives to suppress the July protests in Dhaka.
He further said call records of former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun and a former planning minister were also removed.
Investigators believe the task was carried out by a person recruited through open-source channels on the NTMC chief's instructions.
Joha said the four numbers have been preliminarily confirmed as belonging to Hasina. "We are working to recover the deleted digital evidence," he added.
He also said some recordings of Hasina's phone conversations during the July uprising have already been recovered. "In those, she was heard issuing instructions to use lethal weapons and fire from helicopters to quell protests."
